It’s time for Scott Reynolds’ 2-Point Conversion post-game column, which features two statements, two questions and two predictions based on the latest Bucs game.

Tampa Bay lost in Los Angeles to a hungry and hostile Rams team, 34-24. That loss snapped a 10-game winning streak. Quarterback Tom Brady passed for over 400 yards with a passing touchdown and a rushing score, but it was the Bucs defense allowing four Matthew Stafford touchdown strikes that was the cause for concern in Tampa Bay’s first loss of the season. It didn’t help that cornerback Jamel Dean suffered a knee injury in the first quarter, either.

2 BIG STATEMENTS

STATEMENT 1: Don’t Blame Bowles For Bucs’ Loss To Rams

Blame Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles all you want for the Rams hanging 34 points on Tampa Bay’s defense in a 34-24 loss in Los Angeles. What did you want him to do? Blitz more?

Bowles’ Bucs are already the top blitzing team in the league by far at 45 percent. The league average is 23 percent. The problem is that the defensive line isn’t winning its one-on-ones up front, and the blitzing linebackers and/or defensive backs, are not getting home. They are either missing the quarterback altogether or are being picked up by running backs.

Bucs HC Bruce Arians – Photo by: USA Today

“They just blocked us,” Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said. “They blocked us. Joe [Tryon-Shoyinka] came through clean a couple of times. [Matthew Stafford] got the ball out. The times that we did beat them, they were quick or some other thing that the ball came out quick. So, we didn’t get the sack.”

Will Gholston did get the Bucs’ lone sack with a few minutes left in the game, but Tampa Bay’s lack of success against L.A.’s offensive line shouldn’t have come as a surprise. The Bucs didn’t record a single sack against the Rams last year – and that was with Jason Pierre-Paul, who missed Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury.

So far, the Bucs have an embarrassing three sacks in three games. They’re on pace for 16 sacks this season. Don’t worry, they’ll get way more than that. But there is some cause for concern.

I asked Arians last week point blank if the Bucs were concerned about the lack of sacks and if there was not as much winning one-on-one battles up front.

“They’re winning a bunch,” Arians said last Monday. “Vita [Vea] is killing his guys, it’s just he’s knocking them into the quarterback and not sacking him. I think we’re getting a ton of pressure. We knocked Dak [Prescott] down a bunch of times. Knocking them down sometimes is as good as sacking them. They feel it too, but yeah, I’d like to see some more sacks.”

I think Arians said that with his fingers crossed. Now the lack of the pass rush from the Bucs defensive front is being exposed after Sunday’s loss. By the way, Tampa Bay had 12 sacks through the first three games last year.

When Bowles calls blitzes, it isn’t marrying up well with coverage. Cornerback Jamel Dean has been less than stellar this year, but he’s more talented that Ross Cockrell and Dee Delaney. Losing Dean to a knee injury hurts because the Bucs essentially have one starting-caliber cornerback on the team right now and that’s Carlton Davis III, who is playing well unless he’s getting picked by his own man in coverage (linebacker Devin White on DeSean Jackson’s 40-yard catch-and-run from the slot in the third quarter).

You don’t like Bowles’ soft zone coverage? Do you remember Cockrell getting torched by Jackson on a vertical route in the first half – only to have the ball be underthrown due to pressure by Vita Vea, who hit Matthew Stafford on the play?

Rams WR DeSean Jackson – Photo by: USA Today

Jackson, Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods and Van Jefferson are all more talented players than Cockrell and Delaney. That’s just a fact. Davis is just one man – and he can only guard one receiver at a time.

The Bucs got out-talented by the Rams receivers, which are the best group Tampa Bay will face all year. Sunday’s loss was about the Jimmies and the Joes – not the X’s and the O’s. Bowles’ hands were tied. That too is a fact.

“Yeah, that’s the pass rush,” Arians said. “You can’t sit back there and hold the ball. We’ve got to get home. We’ve got to get home better when rushing four and do a better job of covering seven routes.”

Arians said that some communication issues plagued the secondary on Sunday, and that happens when players like Delaney and Edwards, who are backups, are thrust into the starting lineup to play with defensive backs they don’t usually play with. That’s what happened on Jackson’s 75-yard touchdown when there was a miscommunication between Davis and Edwards, who slipped as he turned to run when Jackson blew by him.

“Busted coverage,” Arians said. “Just totally busted the coverage. Lack of communication and they didn’t get the call to each other. That’s what young guys do.

“It’s a lack of communication and a lack of making plays. As I said, the front four didn’t get there. We got one sack on the book, late. But we’ve got to do a better job with the front four getting home.”

With teams successfully chipping outside linebackers with backs and tight ends and the Bucs defensive tackles not getting enough consistent pressure or push up the middle, the front four just aren’t doing enough to help a hobbled secondary.

Yes, Bowles, who is the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the league, needs to figure out ways to manufacture some sacks with some different/better blitz schemes and hide/minimize the current deficiencies in the secondary. But he needs better individual play from his players, too.

STATEMENT 2: Bucs Defensive Stars Not Showing Up

Every great defense has at least one playmaker at every level. Go back to the 2002 Super Bowl champion Buccaneers, which had Pro Bowlers in Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice up front, Derrick Brooks at the linebacker level and Ronde Barber and John Lynch in the secondary.

Bucs ILB Devin White – Photo by: USA Today

Three of those guys are the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Barber deserves to be next. An argument could also be made for Rice to be enshrined in Canton, Ohio.

Tampa Bay’s 2020 defense wasn’t as dominant as the 2002 unit was during its Super Bowl run, although it played really well in the postseason. There were takeaways and sacks aplenty during the playoffs and the Super Bowl, and there was at least one big-time playmaker at every level.

Up front it was outside linebackers Jason Pierre-Paul, the Bucs’ lone Pro Bowler, and Shaquil Barrett. Pierre-Paul had a pair of sacks in Green Bay, and Barrett led the Bucs in postseason sacks with four – three against the Packers and one in the Super Bowl.

Devin White was the playmaker at linebacker with two interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Those were in addition to his double-digit tackles against New Orleans, Green Bay and Kansas City.

In the secondary, cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting had three big interceptions in three straight games. Rookie safety Antoine Winfield, Jr. had a huge, game-changing forced fumble at New Orleans and an interception against Kansas City in the Super Bowl.

So where is the star power on Tampa Bay’s defense in 2021? It’s nowhere to be found from those players so far.

After recording three sacks and two interceptions in the regular season last year, Winfield has yet to record any sacks or takeaways. The same can be said of White, who had nine sacks last year, which was second on the team. White looks like he’s regressed this year in coverage and is less effective as a blitzer.

Bucs S Antoine Winfield, Jr. and Rams TE Tyler Higbee – Photo by: USA Today

Pierre-Paul has yet to record a splash play, while Murphy-Bunting is out for likely half the season after dislocating his elbow in the first quarter in Week 1. And Murphy-Bunting had a rough quarter of coverage before getting injured, too.

Barrett, who is making an average of $17 million per season after being the Bucs’ franchise player last year, has one sack and one interception in the first two weeks, but couldn’t get to Matthew Stafford on Sunday.

If the Bucs defense wants to be known as the Grave Diggers, the team’s stars have to stop digging their own graves on Sundays. It’s that simple. Tampa Bay’s stars need to shine – and they’re not.

2 PROBING QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: Will The Bucs Defense Rebound Next Week At New England?

It better bounce back. Not only does Tampa Bay face a rookie quarterback in Mac Jones, the Patriots’ first-round pick, but New England’s receiving corps of Nelson Agholor, Jakobi Meyers and Kendrick Bourne is far less formidable than the collection of talent the Bucs just faced in Los Angeles.

The Bucs started the season slow last year with four sacks in the first two weeks before recording six sacks in Denver in Week 3 against young quarterbacks Jeff Driskel and Brett Rypien. Tampa Bay’s defense also recorded a safety and had two interceptions in that 28-10 Mile High win.

Jones has two touchdown passes, three interceptions and has been sacked six times in three games. This could be the reprieve game a hungry and embarrassed Bucs defense needs to get well. And more help could be on the way, according to Pewter Report’s Jon Ledyard.

Not making excuses for the Bucs defense at all, but it has faced Dak Prescott, Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford in three consecutive weeks. Those quarterbacks certainly aren’t slouches. If Jones plays up to their level this Sunday in New England, then it’s definitely time to sound the alarm in Tampa Bay.

QUESTION 2: Can The Bucs Win Without Scoring 30 Points Or More?

Recent history suggests “no” – but that’s not really the case. Prior to Sunday’s loss Tampa Bay had won nine straight games scoring at least 30 points or more dating back to a 31-27 win in Atlanta in Week 15. In reality, the Bucs only needed 28 points to win that game.

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: USA Today

And the Bucs defense didn’t allow 30 points or more in any of those nine straight wins. In fact, Tampa Bay’s 31-29 win over Dallas was the team’s closest margin of victory.

But that was then and this is now. Tampa Bay is allowing 29.3 points per game on defense through three weeks. So yes, the Bucs offense will have to continue to score 30 points or more to prevail – until the defense can play better.

Yet 30 points wouldn’t have won the game on Sunday. The Bucs would have needed 35 points to topple the Rams, which have a good defense.

I just don’t think L.A. is a good matchup for Tampa Bay. It wasn’t last year in a 27-24 win by the Rams at Raymond James Stadium, and now L.A. has a better quarterback under center in Matthew Stafford.

2 BOLD PREDICTIONS

PREDICTION 1. Bucs Look To Go Streaking Again

Sunday’s loss in L.A. caused three Tampa Bay streaks to come to an end. The 34-24 defeat snapped a 10-game winning streak, and the Bucs’ consecutive game streak with 30 points or more also came to a halt. So did Tampa Bay’s eight-game winning streak on the road, dating back to last October. All streaks include last year’s postseason.

So it’s time for the Bucs to go streaking again. No, Tampa Bay won’t win 10 more games in a row this year. But winning the next four at least seems reasonable. The Bucs travel to New England this week and then host the Dolphins on October 10. A trip to Philly on Thursday night won’t be easy, but that game is winnable. Tampa Bay then comes home to face a Bears team that just isn’t very good, before a trek to New Orleans on Halloween. The Bucs should be 6-1 when they face the Saints.

PREDICTION 2. Brady, Bucs Bounce Back Big Time In Prime Time

Bucs TE Rob Gronkowski – Photo Credit: USA TODAY Sports

The 1-2 Patriots aren’t playing good football right now, and the Bucs are coming off a humbling loss to a very good Rams team in what could be a preview of this year’s NFC Championship Game. New England’s only win was a 25-6 victory over the hapless New York Jets. The Patriots lost at home to the Dolphins, 17-16, and the Saints, 28-13.

The Patriots defense has played well, but won’t be able to do much to slow down Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, who is coming off a poor game in Los Angeles. Both players will look to show out on NBC’s Sunday Night Football in their return to New England. New England just doesn’t have the firepower to match Tampa Bay’s offense.